It was your archetypal game of two halves - but luckily for Pompey, they were stronger in 'their' 45 minutes than Crawley were in theirs - resulting in a 2-1 win for the Blues in Sussex in their final pre-season friendly.

Two Brett Pitman goals after the break were enough to beat Harry Kewell's side - putting Kenny Jackett's team in good heart for Saturday's League One opener at home to Rochdale.

Jackett told the club website after the game: 'I felt that Crawley had the better of us in the first half and that they deserved their lead. They’re a powerful side and we didn’t do well enough from set-pieces. We need to be more aggressive in our own box.

'We’d been looking for the killer ball too much and there had been too many wasted passes. We went a little bit too long. But we came back strong in the second, had the majority of the play and I’m pleased to say we scored two good goals.

'We were much more constructive and looked more like the side that I want to see on a matchday. It’s always great to see your striker scoring goals and it was a good free-kick to equalise. We’ve got a lot of ability in that area.”

'The players have shown a very good attitude throughout pre-season and worked very hard. They’re excited about the challenge of competing in a new division. I’m looking forward to it as well. We’ve got a lot of league games in August and September and that’ll tell us where we are as a team.'